Whenever
by nosleepfrappuccinogirl97
Summary: Clare is a nerd while Eli is a popular hockey player. Will they be able to like each other? Eclare.


**_A/N: THIRD THING I'M POSTING TODAY! How nice am I? (Not really...) Okay, so... This is kind of a personal story. Many of the things that happen in this chapter actually happened to me. ): Sad, sad, oh so sad... NOT. Well, it's up to you make the decision. Is it sad? Or not? Anyway, please enjoy._**

**_I don't own anything except Anna, Evelyn, and Pat. They are just the names of my imagination._**

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><p>This is a story of a boy and a girl. The boy, Eli Goldsworthy, was a popular hockey player. The girl, Clare Edwards, was a nerd who only had a limited amount of friends. You should know that this is not a love story.<p>

It all began on that one rainy Tuesday. All it took was that one rainy Tuesday to make her fall in love with him. On that one rainy Tuesday, they had a colorful conversation about Pokémon. This was all it took. The way his deep voice said, "Charmander" and "Pikachu" made her heart pound vigorously. They hadn't spoken since that rainy Tuesday and she intended to keep it that way.

However, fate had other ideas for the two. On this particular Tuesday, they arrived to their shared technology class earlier than the other students. He smiled shyly at her and she smiled back. They both went into the storage room to get their huge Rube-Goldberg machine projects. He struggled to get his project and pieces fell from the weak wood. As soon as she saw this, she helped him.

"Thanks Clare! I'll help you because you helped me." He told her.

They went back into the storage closet to get her project. A marble fell from her project and they both reached for it. Their hands brushed against each other and they both blushed and turned away. The marble still lay there, forgotten. But she didn't mind, she had extra marbles. The two placed the project on to her table. During the short journey of carrying the project, the two avoided each other's gazes.

"Thanks Eli! I couldn't have moved this without your help!" Clare said to Eli.

He smiled and went over to his project. The two failed to notice that the rest of the class had showed up to class. The kids all went to work in their groups. Clare had probably the worst group in the history of working. They didn't do any work and still got A+s. How? Clare wondered. She skipped lunch on a daily basis now to meet the deadline. She was found in the classroom working on their project every day after school. She even skipped her orthodontist appointments to work on her project, only to be met by the consequence of having to go with her mother to get her new retainer. Eli was there too occasionally and the two greeted each other with meaningful, shy smiles. No talk was needed for their silent conversations with their eyes.

"Yo, why is your face red?" Owen Milligan asked Clare.

"My face isn't red…" Clare denied.

"Yeah, it is!" Bianca spat. Clare just ignored her group and went back to working on the project she knew so well. She didn't need to look at the plans anymore.

"Why are you so lazy, Clare?" Bianca inquired. Clare just ignored every single one of her group's snide remarks and worked in silence. Bianca began to gossip and Clare just ignored her, Bianca didn't notice. She just went on and on about Adam Torres. Adam just happened to be Clare's best friend and just listening to Bianca made her angry. Clare took a power drill that was right next to her and drilled furiously into the project. She wished she could drill into someone's head.

"Clare, it doesn't even look like a candle lighting machine." Owen whined.

"Look Owen, I was out the day you two designed the project. I wanted to make a toaster, but it was you two who agreed without my consultant. I'm so sorry Mr. Milligan and Miss de Sousa if it doesn't satisfy your needs, but I've been working my fucking ass off for this damn project." Clare fumed.

"Clare, it's your fault you were out that day we designed and agreed on the project. It's your stupid fault that you're so good in art. I'm sorry Clare but if you don't get us that A+ we deserve, we're going to blame you for it." Bianca threatened. Clare couldn't believe her ears. Clare took a deep breath and continued to work.

"Clare, you know we couldn't have gotten this far without your brain-power." Owen sweet talked Clare as if nothing had just happened. Clare just continued to ignore her group.

"Real mature… the silent treatment? What are we, kindergarteners?" Bianca asked Clare.

Clare continued to ignore her group as she finished up the project.

"Clare, can I borrow some masking tape?" she heard a voice ask. She turned to see that the voice belonged to Eli.

"Yeah, sure. Here you go." She said quietly as she handed Eli the tape.

"By the way, nice job standing up for yourself. I can't believe those assholes get A+s! Well, I gotta go. See you around." Eli said as he returned to his group.

Clare sighed and went back to her project. After a few more minutes of working, they had to leave to go to the next class. During her much liked band class, Clare was still pretty mad about the whole incident in technology. After band, it was lunch. However, the deadline for the project was tomorrow, so Clare went to the technology classroom to squeeze in as much work as she could in just mere 25 minutes. She was alone in the classroom. Clare made sure all of the pieces were intact, painted the wood, and made sure it worked one last time before she handed her project in. That was when her teacher walked in.

"You're still here, young lady?" her teacher asked. Clare nodded with a weak smile. Her empty belly was giving her pains, which she attempted to ignore. She had skipped breakfast that morning as well to squeeze in some study time for her history class.

"I'm going to give you and your group an A+." Mr. Morton said to her. Clare only nodded.

"Can you tell me your name?" Mr. Morton asked as he took out his grade book.

"Clare Edwards." Clare replied dryly. The truth is, she couldn't believe that Mr. Morton couldn't remember her name; even after all of the countless hours she had spent in the technology room. In that second, the hours she spent there seemed like a total waste.

"Of course! You're in the group with Owen and Bianca!" Mr. Morton said. Clare just nodded again. The bell rang for the next class.

Clare felt her eyes burn with tears of anger. She arrived to her Spanish class, only to be greeted by a detention slip with her name on it. Clare just accepted the slip and took her seat. At least her Spanish teacher remembered her name.

Clare blankly took her notes and just let time take control of her body. Clare's best friend, Alli Bhandari, noticed that Clare was upset. After class, Alli caught up with Clare in the hallway on her way to math.

"Clare, tell me what's wrong." Alli begged.

"I got a detention." Clare mumbled.

"I know, but if I remember correctly, Sra. Rintell only gives out the slips, but lets kids go as soon as they arrive. She doesn't believe in detentions, remember? She only pretends to prove to the principal that she's a good teacher. Really Clare, don't try to fool me." Alli stated.

"Mr. Morton forgot my name. I'm completely invisible." Clare said bluntly.

Alli couldn't deny what Clare had just said. Clare was very plain. There was not much to remember Clare for. Alli's train of thought was soon interrupted.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Alli heard Clare say to someone.

"No, no… It's me. I'm sorry, Clare." The voice sounded familiar. Eli Goldsworthy? Indeed it was.

Clare and Eli were on their hands and knees, grabbing whatever belonged to them.

"I think this belongs to you. Let me just say, I am a huge Palahniuk fan myself." Eli said quietly to Clare as he handed her a book.

"Thanks. I love Palahniuk." Clare replied. The two smiled at each other and they headed off in their own directions.

Alli went to her math class and Clare went to her English class. During English, the class had to read, **The Miracle Worker**. It was a play about Helen Keller and Clare's mind wandered off when she got to the point they had to get to. She thought about all of the things that had happened to her in just one day.

She went to Sra. Rintell's classroom after grabbing her backpack. The young teacher smiled when she saw Clare with the slip.

"Gracias Clare! You are free to go!" Sra. Rintell said. Clare left and walked home by herself. On the way, she saw her other best friend Adam Torres, who was also walking. The two walked together. Clare listened as Adam talked of his own problems in the romantic field. He was trying to get Katie to go the last dance with him. Clare had completely forgotten about the dance tomorrow! When Clare got home, she did her homework. She skipped dinner. She hadn't eaten all day, but now it was too late to eat. It was now 3 AM and she had school in a couple of hours. Clare sighed and thought that she could manage for another three hours until breakfast. She checked her email.

She had plenty of spam and junk. Just then, a person with the email, _eli-golds 49_ had sent her an email. Eli Goldsworthy? Why on earth would he email her? She opened the email cautiously and read without blinking.

_Hey Clare.  
>I heard what Mr. Morton did. He forgot my name too when I came by to work after-school!<br>I'm sorry to hear what happened. I just emailed to reassure you that you're not alone.  
>Have a goodnight, Clare.<em>

_-Eli_

Clare blushed at Eli's email and logged off. She then went to study for an earth science test.

That morning, Clare realized she had fallen asleep on her desk amidst of studying. She drooled on the corner of her notes. She got dressed. She wore her Degrassi uniform and a pair of sneakers.

"Clare! Breakfast!" Clare's mother yelled from down the stairs.

Clare took her retainer out and ran down the stairs with her notes in her hand. She ate her burnt French toast and studied while her mother argued about on the phone with her father. She escaped out of the house to school.

She went to math and took a pop quiz, which she knew she aced. Then, she went to earth science and took the test she had studied so much for. Unfortunately, all of that studying hadn't paid off. Since she was in the AP class, the teacher had decided that the class needed a challenge. So the teacher made the test in Hungarian. Yes, Hungarian. Clare had never struggled so much to take a test, and when the class ended, Clare was on the verge of tears.

Art came and Clare couldn't have been more grateful. Though she had no friends in art, she loved to draw and mold clay into things. Even if when she brought them home, her neat-freak parents threw them out. Clare took a seat near the front of the classroom and worked on her coaster. She couldn't help but overhear a conversation that was happening right next to her.

"Who are you going to dance with tonight?" a girl named Evelyn asked another named Anna.

"I'm going to dance with Elijah." Anna said. Clare smirked a bit. She knew how much Eli hated being called Elijah. He had told her when they discussed Pokémon.

"Really! Wow! I thought you'd dance with Pat… Since you know about his secret obsession about you." Evelyn said.

"In his dreams! I'd never dance with that buck teethed lacrosse player!" Anna replied. Anna and Evelyn both laughed evilly.

"I'm going to dance with Sav Bhandari." Evelyn declared.

"Good luck with that!" Anna answered.

The bell saved them and the rest of the day flew by. Clare finally ate lunch. She savored her turkey and Swiss wrap.

The rest of the day went by quickly and Clare was picked up by her mother. The two drove home in silence as they had nothing to say to each other. When Clare got home, she was exhausted. She hadn't had a good night's rest since the new semester had begun. She napped and woke up at 5:29 PM. She groggily took a shower and put on a navy dress with a white cardigan. Then, she sprayed on some of the new Vera Wang Princess perfume she had gotten from the mall with Alli a few weeks ago. As soon as she was done, Clare's mother drove her back to Degrassi, where she was to dance in the gym-sock-smelling gym.

During the fast paced music, Clare, Adam, and Alli all danced like maniacs. After sweating off calories, slow, legato music filled their ears. Adam finally convinced Katie to dance with him. They seemed perfect for each other. Alli and Clare just stood awkwardly about and watched as the couples took the floor and slow danced.

Clare noticed Anna asking Eli to dance with her and after a moment of hesitation and looking at Clare directly in the eye as if he were asking Clare for permission, he said yes. They got to the dance floor and Anna kept pushing herself closer to Eli, who was trying to pull back ever so slightly. He gave up after a while, but kept looking at the direction where Clare was standing with Alli. She feigned a smile and thumbs up. He meekly smiled back. The song seemed to never end. Alli was asked to dance by Wesley, and the two left Clare to be alone in Singleville.

Clare went to grab a drink of water; she felt Eli's eyes follow her. However, Clare knew for the sake of their social being, she had to like him from a distance. Even if Eli liked her back, they had to distance each other unless Eli wanted to commit social suicide. Clare felt a tear roll down her left cheek. She hastily brushed it off and ran home alone in the dark.

When Clare got home, she took a shower and changed into her pajamas. Clare then sat in front of her MacBook Pro and logged onto her FictionPress account. She then clicked on iWork and began to type a new story.

"_This is a story of a boy and a girl. The boy, Eli Goldsworthy, was a popular hockey player. The girl, Clare Edwards, was a nerd who only had a limited amount of friends. You should know that this is not a love story…"_

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><p><strong><em>AN: Did you like it? Should I continue? Please review if you want more, or if you'd like it just as an one-shot._**


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